Flputnam Investment Management Co. Buys 21,491 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 145.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,491 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target (up from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price target on Salesforce from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $228.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, August 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $261.15.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong quarterly beat and raised outlook: Salesforce reported adjusted EPS of $5.90 versus the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion, broadly topping expectations. Management raised its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook to approximately $46.1 billion-$46.4 billion and pointed to stronger bookings, lower attrition and potential organic growth reacceleration. Salesforce Stock Soars After Strong Results, Raised Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: AI partnership strengthens the growth narrative: Salesforce expanded its alliance with Anthropic, integrating Claude into Agentforce and launching “Claudeforce,” which places Salesforce CRM capabilities inside Claude. Investors viewed the agreement as evidence that Salesforce can monetize AI and benefit from rising usage; Agentforce and Data 360 annual recurring revenue approached $3.9 billion, with Agentforce ARR reaching about $1.5 billion. Salesforce Soars on Earnings Beat and AI Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional support: Wolfe Research upgraded CRM to “strong buy,” while several firms raised price targets, including Truist to $300, JPMorgan to $265 and Mizuho to $265. Heavy trading and reports of institutional buying suggest investors are reassessing the stock’s valuation and the broader software sector’s AI prospects.
• Neutral Sentiment: Profit quality warrants scrutiny: Strategic investment gains contributed $2.53 of the $5.90 adjusted EPS, including an estimated $2.7 billion unrealized gain tied to Salesforce’s Anthropic investment. This boosted reported earnings but may not represent recurring operating performance. Salesforce Stock Just Soared. Thank Anthropic.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and execution risks remain: After the rally, some analysts still see limited upside or downside, with UBS, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo retaining neutral or equivalent ratings. Critics also caution that Anthropic could control the AI orchestration layer, potentially limiting Salesforce’s long-term strategic leverage, while the rapid move may already price in much of the AI opportunity.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $256.60 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $269.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.18 billion, a PE ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $181.24 and its 200-day moving average is $182.47.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.